The downfall of Rochester and Antoinette’s relationship in Wide Saragossa Sea occurs due to the restriction and quarantine placed on Antoinette. Chains form around their relationship and Rochester begins to discriminate against everything Antoinette says. Rochester’s sense of dominance leads him to make claims that Antoinette has always been insane. Rochester’s ego elevates him to a place too high to ever notice Antoinette’s feelings or concerns regarding a healthy relationship. The stature at which he views himself affects his perception of her; she is always viewed in the wrong way and as insane. Rum drips upon the petals of their relationship changing its color, and loosening the links of the chain, but never actually freeing Antoinette …show more content…
It provides a way of escaping a reality of enchainment, loosening the grips in which Rochester has over Antoinette. Its deliciousness and attractive appearance distracts Antoinette from the chains that tightly grasp onto her. The drips of rum cause the orchid petals, Antoinette, to change colors and causes the flower as a whole to be tarnished. Rum’s influence in Wide Saragossa Sea shows the confusion within Rochester and Antoinette’s relationship. The rum is significant because it allows Antoinette to escape a world that she feels alone in, and get on the same page as Rochester for once, being drunk. Even in the midst of a potentially beautiful relationship, rum shows that petals of love are not immune to being discolored. The lack of maturity is extremely relevant in their relationship, as Rochester only wants to talk when they are drunk. In order to survive, the orchid needs nutrients and affection. When the orchid is chained and fed with the wrong things, it is unable to blossom from the lack of …show more content…
Thornfield bursts into flames of red fire and is brought to ruins. The heat within Antoinette followed her wherever she went; just like Rochester’s clasp on her. Fire is not only seen as the beginning of destruction, but to Antoinette, it is the only solution to escape from Rochester. The fire is plays an enormous role throughout Wide Saragossa Sea, and can be seen as a present theme throughout the plot. It is so significant because it is the event that causes Antoinette to crawl into Rochester’s grasps, and escape from them at the end. The importance of the fire in the art work is to display how fire ultimately destroyed Antoinette’s life and
Antoinette’s initial exposure to exile with her mother and brother forces her to grow up assuming all men are dishonest. Throughout Wide Sargasso Sea, Antoinette clearly has some trust issues. While she initially feels Rochester drawing her in like a moth to the flame, she has second thoughts about marrying him and almost cancels their wedding. Without giving much of a reason, she simply says, “I’m afraid of what may happen” if she were to marry him (Rhys 46). Readers, not left with much context, can easily infer that she is untrusting by Rochester’s next line.
Within Rhys’s novel, he incorporates the normality of the West Indies during the nineteenth and mid- twentieth centuries. Antoinette, the main character, who happens to be a white Creole, is mistreated and discriminated because of her identity. Throughout the text, characters are victimized by prejudices. For example, Antoinette and Annette become victims of traumatic experience as they face numerous kinds of mistreatment. Antoinette had to deal with an arranged marriage, which results her becoming distressed. Throughout this marriage, she was treated irrationally by her husband, Rochester and servants. She was unable to relate to Rochester because their upbringings were incompatible. She had to stomach the trauma of being shunned because of her appearance and identity. She was called names, mainly “white cockroach”, and was treated as an
...d longs for her elder sister and mother. Frances is a good person – at heart – and is always looking out for her younger sister. Moreover, even though she has different views that her father and will always do the opposite of what is expected of her, it is seen that this insecurity is caused by James indeed. Frances feels that in order to gain security in her life, she must perform these actions. She feels compelled to live her life the way she does. Frances’s naughty and mischievous behaviour can be viewed as a weakness she possesses, and she longs to correct these weaknesses by her actions. She is not a role model by any means, but she is by no means the Devil’s advocate. A sincere heart – compelled by circumstances – does its best to make the situation turn out for the better than the worse, and Frances, through her love for her mother, inevitably does just that.
her is inferior to Rochester and others of high class. She is forced into this social
Jean Rhys obviously had Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre in mind while writing Wide Sargasso Sea. Each novel contains events that echo other events or themes in the other. The destruction of Coulibri at the beginning of Wide Sargasso Sea reminds the reader of the fire at Thornfield towards the end of Jane Eyre. While each scene refers to events in its own book and clarifies events in its companion, one cannot conclude that Rhys simply reconstructed Thornfield's fall in Coulibri's. Though they exhibit some similarities, to directly compare these two scenes without considering their impact on the novels as whole works would be ridiculous. Each scene's main importance, and contribution to the overall intertextual meaning, lies elsewhere in the two works, not simply within the confines of the scenes themselves.
Of Wide Sargasso Sea it has been said that the portrayal of the persons of color within the novel are flat and one dimensional. This assessment would be accurate in its claim unless we look at how their characters are seen through the eyes of the White and Creole character Bertha Cosway (Mason) and Mr. Rochester. We see this racial veneer (though not so thin or decorative in any sense) first early in Antoinette’s childhood with a little girl named Tia. Ironically, the two became friends after Tia began to follow her and sing “Go away white cockroach, go away, go away” (Wide Sargasso Sea, Part 1 Pg 13).
Twelfth Night revolves heavily around the shipwreck plot device to split apart the siblings Viola and Sebastian, leading to the development of a bizarre love-triangle and a case of mistaken identity. Besides the rather literal importance of the sea as the driving force for the play’s plot, water appears to resonate as a recurring theme throughout many scenes; specifically, it becomes a living representation for the emotional status of various characters, and woven within the ebb and flow of the tides, qualities such as fate, grief, death (imagined or real), and reflection churn amongst the brackish waters of the play’s symbolic ocean. Of course, because Twelfth Night fails to meet definition of a tragedy outright, these elements will not lead
Flowers’ demeanor is not the only thing that deserves acclaim; her benevolent heart deserves admiration as well. She has the willingness to sacrifice her time and energy to be a mentor for Marguerite. Marguerite contemplates the memories she had Mrs. Flower’s and states, “To be allowed, no, invited to the private lives of strangers, and to share joys and fears, was a chance to exchange the Southern bitter wormwood for a cup of mead with Beowulf or a hot cup of tea and milk with Oliver Twist.” As Marguerite reflects on her past, she is exceedingly grateful for Mr. Flower’s benevolence and lessons. It is exceedingly improbable that a stranger would invite someone to their lives, but Mrs. Flowers had a sincere, kind heart to care, nurture, and guide
...nd the re-union of Mr. Rochester and Jane Mr. Rochester can finally be in the relationship he always desired, but at the cost of his hand and eyesight; adding even more to his suffering, but at least now he has his true love to be by his side.
Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel Jane Eyre depicts the passionate love Jane Eyre and Edward Rochester have for each other, and as Bertha Mason stands in the way of the happiness of Brontë's heroine, the reader sees Mason as little more than a villainous demon and a raving lunatic. Jean Rhys' serves as Mason's defendant, as the author's 1966 novella Wide Sargasso Sea, a prequel to Jane Eyre, seeks to explore and explain Bertha's (or Antoinette Cosway's) descent into madness. Rhys rejects the notion that Antoinette has been born into a family of lunatics and is therefore destined to become one herself. Instead, Rhys suggests that the Cosways are sane people thrown into madness as a result of oppression. Parallels are drawn between Jane and Antoinette in an attempt to win the latter the reader's sympathy and understanding. Just as they did in Jane Eyre, readers of Wide Sargasso Sea bear witness to a young woman's struggle to escape and overcome her repressive surroundings. Brontë makes heavy use of the motif of fire in her novel and Rhys does the same in Wide Sargasso Sea. In Rhys' novella, fire represents defiance in the face of oppression and the destructive nature of this resistance.
Despite Rochester’s stern manner and unhandsome appearance, Jane still finds herself falling in love with him. During her first encounter with Rochester Jane describes him
The novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys were produced at different times in history. Indeed, they were created in different centuries and depicted extensively divergent political, social and cultural setting. Despite their differences, the two novels can be compared in the presentation of female otherness, childhood, and the elements that concern adulthood. Indeed, these aspects have been depicted as threatening the female other in the society. The female other has been perceived as an unfathomable force that is demonic in nature but respects these enigmatic threatening characters. The female other has been portrayed as intensely alienated while grows knowing that their actions are subject to ridicule, rumor,
Roses are present in the garden, as they are “the only flowers that impress people” (Mansfield 2581). Mrs. Sheridan orders so many lilies that Laura think it must be a mistake, saying “nobody ever ordered so many” (Mansfield 2584). Satterfield says, “the flower imagery throughout the story serves to keep the reader reminded of the delicacy of Laura’s world. The flowers are splendid, beautiful, and-what is not stated- short-lived.” He goes on to say that Laura “can see only the beauty and not the dying of the flower, and she cannot see that, in many ways, she is very much like a flower herself.” The delicate life of the Sheridan’s is one that must come to an end. It is beautiful like the flowers, but also like the flowers, it will eventually die. As Darrohn puts it, “the Sheridans operate under the illusion that their easy life is natural… rather than produced through others’ labor.” This idea too can be illustrated by the flowers in the story. The roses that fill the gardens are the work of the gardeners who have “been up since dawn” (Mansfield 2581). It seems to Laura that “hundreds, yes, literally hundreds [of roses] had come out in a single night… as though visited by archangels” (Mansfield 2581). The reader can see through the flowers that the Sheridans have a rose-colored view of how their lifestyle
The realistic novel places greater emphasis on its characters, rather than its plot, and explores the relationships between these characters. The selected passage shows both the servant-master aspect of Jane and Mr. Rochester’s relationship, as well as its romantic nature. At the beginning of the selected passage, Jane affectionately describes Mr. Rochester as a “kind master,” which is indicative that even after his proposal, she is unable to separate herself from her position as a servant. This is further emphasized when Jane states that “he would send for [her] in the morning,” whic...
Rochester lay stretched motionless, in deep sleep. ‘Wake! Wake!’ I cried--I shook him, but he only murmured and turned: the smoke had stupefied him. Not a moment could be lost: the very sheets were kindling.” (148) The inferno symbolizes Jane and Rochester’s growing passion, although they are not yet fully aware of its existence. The smoke in the room represents the numerous obstacles and distractions that prevent them from openly showing their feelings to one another. But then comes clarity, when Jane and Rochester begin to realize those feelings. The second fire, also started by Bertha Mason, occurred after Jane left Thornfield, and ended up burning down the whole estate. Jane hears about this incident from the host of a Millcote inn who does not know who Jane is. “‘Thornfield Hall is quite a ruin: it was burnt down just about harvest time...the fire broke out at the dead of night...the building was one mass of flame.’”(426) He tells her other details about the fire, including the identity of the arsonist, Bertha, and that “‘...on this